Importance of dehumanization has been exaggerated in study of violence

Perpetrators of collective violence allegedly dehumanize their victims. Psychologists often define dehumanization as a social-cognitive process that turns people into beings whose thoughts, feelings, and relationships are of no concern to the perpetrators.

The theory is that this process is an essential mechanism in intergroup violence.

But a growing number of researchers from a variety of disciplines are pointing out the theoretical and empirical limitations of the dehumanization thesis. Some psychologists go so far as to argue that the thesis is mistaken.

As this review by senior researcher Johannes Lang shows, the explanatory value of “dehumanization” is now in doubt. Whatever its intuitive appeal, the psychological concept of dehumanization might do more to distort than illuminate the history of collective violence.